All coconut oils are not created equal

For some time now, I have been using coconut oil for my hair. I have used it as a leave-in moisturizing spray and hot oil treatments. The brand I originally purchased was this brand of LouAna coconut oil with the green lid.

First off I loved the scent, it has a very nice coconutty fragrance that you can still smell once you wash it out with shampoo. The way I applied it was only as a hot oil treatment that I would leave in from 1 hour to overnight. The results were soft hair that was moisturized without the need to add hair grease. I also noticed that my hair had no tangles when it came time to comb it. =) I also noticed less hair shedding and that my hair had grown a little past my shoulders and was getting thicker. A couple years pass and I was given this brand that was okay, but it left white build-up on my hair it seems to attract lint! So I found my self having to wash my hair much often when I used this one. I would use this as a hot oil treatment as well.

The smell of coconut is there, but I just did not care for this brand. So a few years pass and I need to buy more coconut oil so I head out to my local grocery store just to find that the packaging has been changed, so I figure, well it is still made by LouAna so the product should still be the same. BIG MISTAKE!!! I guess along with the changing of the label the company decided to change the ingredients of the oil. It has no coconut oil smell whatsoever, which is what I was hoping for. I have only used it in a spray bottle mixed with some distilled water and purified water. I dont know, it could just be my hair, but I noticed that when I used it as a leave in moisturizing spray it seemed to dry my hair out more and frizz it.

I will however try using it again as a hot oil treatment to see if the results will be different. I will keep the post updated, since I have now started my own hair care journey into going natural! I had my last relaxer on June 21, 2012 so I am transitioning since I don't want to make the BC as of yet! I am also looking for great products that keep the hair well moisturized to avoid alot of breakage during this time. So if you know of any good ones, please let me know.

Hey mom! What's for dinner?

How many of you have heard this being asked almost everyday? I know I have! My son ask everyday "Hey mom, what's for dinner?" So today when he asked I said I don't know, that was until I remembered that I had picked some eggplant from the garden a couple days before. So I said eggplant lasagna, keep in mind that I had never made nor ate this before, so I was clueless as to how to make it. So I just winged it and it turned out wonderful! My whole family devoured it, including my son who kept telling me that there was no eggplant in it because he doesnt like eggplant. He had never eaten it up until then, so its a good way to sneak in veggies ;) The recipe is below. Hope you like it. ENJOY!!








Eggplant Lasagna

1 medium size eggplant, peeled and sliced
1 lb. ground turkey, pork, beef or chicken (I used pork)
2 jars spaghetti sauce, any kind
1 lb. shredded mozzarella cheese, use more if you like
2 tbsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. table salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 small onion, diced
1 small green bell pepper, diced
1 heaping tbsp minced garlic


Instructions:
In a large skillet brown the ground meat, onion, garlic, pepper, salt, black pepper & italian seasoning. When it is done, drain off the grease and add the 2 jars of sauce along with the meat to a pot to simmer on low for 10 minutes. During this time you can peel and slice the eggplant. To assemble add a layer of eggplant to the bottom of your 9x13 baking dish, spoon the meat sauce over and sprinkle with cheese. Continue doing this until you are done. Sprinkle top of lasagna with the remaining cheese. Preheat oven to 350*F and bake lasagna until a fork or knife test that the eggplant is done.

Garden Update!!

Hi folks!! =) This morning I tried to do a video update using my cell phone, but I got interrupted! =( So I decided to post the pictures of what I have been able to pick from my garden. The pictures are a few days old, but here they are. This is the first thing I picked from my garden, a nice sized bell pepper. I sliced this up and put it in the freezer since we didnt need it yet.

This is my green beans that I picked. it was probably about a cup once I got them washed and cut into pieces. They smell SO FRESH!!! I froze these also because we still have bags of frozen green beans that were store bought.

This is the picture of my little zucchini, nothing compared to the ones in the picture below hehehe, but still I washed and froze this one too.

And take a look at these GIGANTIC Zucchuini that our pastor blessed us with!!I have never seen such massive things before in my life! =) I washed them and cut them up so I could freeze them for different kinds of recipes

The biggest one was close to 17"!! And just to think my child was 20" when he was born hehehe

Products of the month April

Disclaimer: I PURCHASE EVERYTHING WITH MY OWN MONEY. I DO NOT DO THIS FOR MONETARY GAIN. I AM IN NO WAY AFFILIATED WITH THE COMPANIES WHOSE PRODUCTS I REVIEW. Okay I decide to start back doing my products of the month. I really enjoy doing them because I give my honest opinion on the items. This month I decided to do a review on beauty products. I have somewhat acne prone skin, especially around that time of the month. Using Coast bar sop on my face when I'm in the shower was causing my face to break out more and become very dry. In the past when I was younger and going to my dermatologist he prescribed some acne cream that dried my skin so bad that it was coming off in pieces, almost similar to what the Coast bar sop was starting to do. So since I dont wear makeup, just lip balm I wanted my face to look fresh and clean, without caking on tons of foundation to hide my acne blemishes. So one day I was at Walmart shopping and decided to give the Equate brade version of Dove sensitive skin body wash a try Let me just say that I am hooked! It is so sensitive on my skin and it does not dry my face out nor cause a breakout, like some other soaps can. All you need is a dime sized amount, lather it up in your hands and rub it on your face and then rinse it off. I also have been using Neutrogena Rapid Clear 2-in-1 Fight & Fade Toner on my face as well. I spray this on my face when I get done washing it. My fae looks so much better, even spots that were on my face from old blemishes are now gone. If I feel a breakout coming on I simply spray my face and within a day I may have only 1 pimple on my face. The price for the Neutrogen is about $6.50 and the body wash is about $3.50 that is not alot seeing how it will last for a long time. Update: I was finally able to upload the picture!!

We FINALLY started our garden!!

I can't believe that it has been a little over a month since I started my garden. I planted everything (except the eggplant & jalapeno transplants) in both beds on (3/22/12), but the very next day I had ants in bed #2. Apparently they were VERY hungry because the ate every seed I had planted, but left the transplants un-touched! I thought we (my sister & I) had did something wrong like planting the seeds too deep, but all the seeds were planted according to the pkg/book. So I thought well I have to find a solution to get rid of the ants first without the use of pesticides and chemicals, so after searching the net I found DIATOMACEOUS EARTH which is a non-toxic organic pesticide and it got rid of the ants in 2 days!! I did have to replant bed #2 (4/4/12), but I was glad because I was able to plant other things that I did not originally plant. And let me tell you, everything is growing so good. We had prayed over both beds when we first planted and gave them to God, even our church joined us in prayer (Matthew 18:20). I told my mom the other day that the garden is starting to look like its on steroids =) because it has grown so high and full. I had to prune some of the zucchini and squash vines because the were reaching out well over 2 feet out of the 4x4 beds. Not to mention my beans that are all over 5 feet tall!! Here are some pictures that were taken last month

This is #1 bed with the two jalapeno transplants!

This is bed #2 with the eggplant, romaine lettuce & bell pepper transplants!

Bed #1 maybe 3 weeks after planting seeds!

Bed #1 jalapeno plant!

This plantet box had strawberries in them, but they didnt seem to be doing anything so I pulled them out and replanted with corn to see how it does!

Prepping from a single parents point of view

Okay as some of you may know, I am a single parent, but I still live at home with my parents. Even though I am still at home with them does not mean that I can't begin preparing for a disaster, job loss, sickness, etc. I know that with the economy being the way it is, everyone should be putting a little a side every chance he/she can get. I started out the begging of this year by purchasing my Berkey water filter system which has been a HUGE blessing for us. We have very nasty well water that has an awful egg smell and a rusty - yellowish color. Who want's to drink that!?!? So our Berkey gets plenty of use, since we use the water for cooking and drinking and the filters should last my family for at least 5-10 years, depending on how many gallons we use daily. Another thing I began doing is keeping and filling gallon milk jugs with our tap water and adding 1 tsp of bleach to it, so we can use for hand washing & toilet flushing. I also coupon and stock up on good deals when I find something good for my family. Yesterday I went to the local LDS home storage center and purchased some #10 canned items to add to out long-term food storage. Since this was my first time going, I didnt purchase too much. I purchased black beans, pinto beans, white beans, both quick & regular oats & white rice. I also went ahead and purchased the hard white wheat berries and the hard red wheat berries, since I am planning on purchasing a grain mill next month sometime. We also got a 4lb bag of pancake mix there also. I am planning on going back again next month to purchase more bulk items, this time I will have to to buy the 25 lb bags of items because my local cannery will no longer be allowing you to can in the building anymore. They will however still be selling the items in 25 lb bags. The older guy that I spoke with yesterday told me that I could buy a bunch of mylar bags and oxygen absorbers and seal the pouches with an iron! So guess what I gonna do since I dont own a sealer. =) lol Till next time guys....

Homemade Chili

With all the cool weather sweeping in through the south, I've really started to crave comfort foods. Well yesterday I wanted chili, but didnt have a chili season pack on hand. So I found a recipe, but tweaked it to my liking! ;-) I also froze about 6 cups of it for later use as chili & cheese baked potatoes or for chili dogs, so I may take a picture of it then if I remember. But enough of my talking, here is the recipe. Hope you enjoy as much as we did!! :-)


Chili

2lbs ground lean turkey, chicken or beef cooked and drained of all grease
29oz can tomato sauce
2-14.5oz cans kidney beans, undrained
2-14.5 oz cans pinto beans, undrained
1/2 cup sweet frozen corn kernals - *optional*
1 med onion, diced & cooked along with ground turkey
1-3oz can diced green chilies
1/4 green bell pepper, diced & cooked along with ground turkey
1/4 cup celery, diced & cooked along with ground turkey
1-28oz can petite diced tomatoes
3tsp cumin powder
3tbsp chili powder
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp table salt
1/2 cup water

First you cook your ground turkey, onion, bell pepper, and celery together using non-stick olive oil spray or regular olive oil. After your meat mixture is done, drain(sometimes I even rinse it off with warm water just to make sure all the grease is out if I'm using ground beef)and then add to a large pot along with all of the other ingredients. Stir to mix everything together and then simmer on low for 30min to 1 hour. Enjoy!!

I like to serve mine with a side of sweet cornbread or saltines. Yummmm

Semi-Homemade Freezer Salsa

Since I have discovered that you can freeze salsa, I have been doing this recipe for about half a year now. I use a package called Mrs. Wages and it has everything that a salsa should have, minus the tomatoes. The recipe calls for 6-14.5 oz cans of petite diced tomatoes and 1/2 cup of white vinegar. I have never doubled the recipe, but I'm sure that it would be no problem doing so. The pictures below are of my salsa. I used Ball 8oz freezer containers and got 12 1/2 cups of salsa after it was done.

New Dominican Hair Care Products

I just wanted to do a quick review on a new product products that I have been using. I am Jamaican-American as I'm sure most of you didn't know and I have been searching high & low for new products that will help grow my hair. I do relax my hair every 6-8 weeks because I have very coarse hair, but I was wanting to extend the time between relaxers. After searching I found a product called "CrecePelo" by Boe.

The image above is from Amazon.com, but I DID NOT puchase my items from there. The products are made in the Dominican Republic and work wonderful!! And they also smell great!! :-) I purchased the 4pc set which includes 16oz shampoo, 16oz treatment, 16oz rinse & a 16oz leave-in-conditioner. I have noticed a complete difference in my hair since the first time I used it. My hair is now very smooth, silky and easy to comb. I last relaxed my hair a month ago today and it still looks fresh as if I just got it relaxed. I usually just keep my hair wrapped and if I go out I comb it pull it back in a pony and I'm out the door. I have not noticed any significant hair growth as of yet, my hair is a little past my shoulders. So I will have to update in a few months to let you guys know if I noticed any.



*HAIR CARE UPDATE* 12/12/11

Alright folks, I am back again with a hair care update since this last post. I just got a perm/relaxer on 12/1/11, so I went I believe 10 weeks without a relaxer and my hair was really kinky!! I did wash my hair every other week and flat iron it, but a couple hours after, it would be very frizzy and start to kink back up. I did notice some shedding, but I am not sure if it was because of the product I was using, or because I went so long without a relaxer/perm. I had about 2" of new growth, so that was good for me.

Being Hospitable

Lately I have been talking to my child about his behavior and trying to instill character in him. We have been using the Duggar Character Quality chart as part of our bible study for homeschool. Well, yesterday we had a visitor come by our home and she was there for a couple hours and as she was playing a game with my son he says"_____, would you like a glass of water". She tells him yes and how nice he is for offering her water. He then goes on to tell her that "well my mom says that if someone poor comes to our home we are to offer them things". We got a good laugh out of it, but then corrected him and told him that when you have visitors come by for a visit you should make them as comfortable as possible and share with them what God has blessed you with. I really do suggest using the Duggar Character Quality chart as part of your homeschool, family devotion, sunday school, etc.